Dear Senator:
On behalf of the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO (TTD) I urge you to oppose the nomination of Nancy Beck as Chair of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC).
In her current role at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Nancy Beck has played a major role in weakening the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines on safely reopening workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is particularly concerning for the frontline transportation workers represented by our affiliated unions. Many of these workers have been deemed essential, remain on the job, and yet have been denied the mandatory safety and health protections we know are urgently needed during this pandemic.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is responsible for protecting the public from dangerous toys, children’s products, apparel, home furnishings, cleaning supplies, building materials and other commercial items. Yet, Ms. Beck’s professional record has largely focused on blocking or weakening health and safety protections in her role as a senior chemical industry executive with the American Chemistry Council and as a senior government official within the Trump administration.
As a Principal Deputy Assistant Administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), where she helped direct the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention; she blocked, weakened, or delayed protections from toxic chemicals including asbestos, lead, methylene chloride, TCE, dioxane, the pesticide chlorpyrifos and the “forever” group of PFAS chemicals. In fact as one of her first acts at EPA, Beck blocked a proposed ban on the use of methylene chloride—a dangerous solvent in paint strippers known to pose a lethal risk to workers and consumers. Only after the known deaths of four people and a lawsuit did the agency finally finalize a ban on the consumer sale, but not the commercial use—continuing to leave workers and consumers exposed and unprotected.
Workers’ safety, consumers, and the public’s health cannot afford seven years of Nancy Beck at the helm of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The impact will be devastating. For these reasons, we strongly urge you to vote against Nancy Beck’s nomination.
Sincerely,
Larry I. Willis
President